California Teens Fixed on Junk Food

I read the above article Tuesday night and was struck by the following:

"Soda and fast food consumption goes up as household income decreases, the study found.

"Such foods are usually quick and cheap, making them especially appealing to families on a tight budget with both parents working long hours."

I understand "long hours" and "tight budgets." I understand it so well that we don't eat out in fast food restaurants very often because we can't afford it! Fast food is not cheap. Feeding a family of six costs about $30.00, especially since the kids no longer want the "kid's meal." $30.00 will feed my family for at least a day, including snacks. Groceries for a week are about $100.00--or four fast food dinners, if we're really conservative about what we order

Hubs and I both work long hours. We each spend two hours a day--minimum--commuting. So when I went back to fulltime work, DD#1 took on the responsibility of starting the entree for dinner. She was 13. I looked up simple meals in my collection of cookbooks, wrote up a menu, and gave her the page number of the meal for the day. Within three months, she decided she would cook it all, although side dishes don't always happen. Last year, DS#2 (14 at the time) and DD#2 (11) alternated making the salad. When I got home, dinner was mostly done.

So why aren't "lower income" families doing the same thing?

Part of the reason is education.

Time was all girls took a class in basic home economics. I learned to use a sewing machine. I learned about the basic food groups and the importance of planning and preparing well-balanced meals. I learned that processed foods are in the center aisles of the supermarket while the cheaper, unprocessed foods (dairy, meat, produce) are around the perimeter. I learned to make Jell-O salad and tuna-potato chip-green pea casserole. These lessons were reinforced by earning the Cooking Badge in Junior Girl Scouts and helping my mother in the kitchen. We all did: every one of my contemporaries in my class, in my neighborhood. My best friend received the Betty Crocker Homemaking Award her senior year in high school.

Does that Award even exist anymore?

If you can read, you can cook. There are some great cookbooks out there, such as Peg Bracken's The I Hate to Cook Book and Desperation Dinners by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. Klutz Press has an excellent children's cookbook called Kids Cooking. And Betty Crocker still publishes the classic red Betty Crocker Cookbook.

If the parents don't know how to cook, don't know how much cheaper it is to cook at home rather than eating out, how will their children learn?

Instead of lingerie bridal showers and bachelorette shows at Chippendales, maybe we need to have kitchen showers, with cookbooks and pots and pans. Maybe baby showers should include Vicky Lansky's classic Feed Me, I'm Yours. Home Ec should be reintroduced to both girls and boys. Combine it with Shop Class (another lost art) and call it "Life Skills."

After all, the kids have to eat something!